“The Alarm”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

The moment she opened her eyes, she knew that something was wrong. After all, since when was the alarm clock taller than her and sounding like an explosion each time it rang?

Covering her ears, she desperately searched for a way to reach the top of the clock to turn it off. A stack of books would be able to provide her with some height, but they were too far from the clock itself.

She would have to jump.

She raced to the bottom book and realized that she was going to have to uncover her ears to pull herself up. She took a deep breath and braced herself before removing her hands.

The loudest BEEP of them all rang out. Still, she forced her hands to stay away from her ears and started climbing as fast as she could.

BEEP!

She passed the first book.

BEEP!

She struggled to get a handhold on the second book.

BEEP!

Her foot slipped down over the well-loved pages. She used all her strength to pull herself up.

BEEP!

Just one more book left.

BEEP!

She made it to the top.

BEEP!

She took a deep breath.

BEEP!

And took off running.

BEEP!

Just as she reached the edge of the pile of books, she made the fatal mistake of looking down.

BEEP!

The alarm pounded in her ears as she teetered at the edge.

But it wasn’t the screeching alarm that made her lose her balance. As she fell, she watched as her older sister stomped into her bedroom, having slammed the door open in annoyance that she wasn’t turning off her alarm.

Final Comments: Eh, I don’t love this one. I feel like it was missing any sense of urgency… I think that shorter sentences would’ve helped.

Overall Rating: 😖